In memoriam: Dr. Christopher Blagg

Dr. Christopher Blagg passed away peacefully on March 31, 2022. 

A native of England, Dr. Blagg earned his medical degree from the University of Leeds School of Medicine. He got involved with dialysis care in 1958, even before long-term dialysis was a viable treatment for kidney failure.

When he learned of the pioneering work led by Dr. Belding Scribner, the first Division Head of Nephrology at UW, he moved to Seattle in 1963. He worked closely with Dr. Scribner to establish dialysis care as a community resource and advocated for Medicare funding of long-term dialysis care.

As Executive Director of the Northwest Kidney Centers for 27 years, he oversaw the establishment of a network of community-based dialysis facilities in King County.

He was internationally renowned for laying the foundations of high-quality dialysis care for kidney failure. He served as President of the American Society of Artificial Internal Organs, Renal Physicians Association, and Washington State Society of Internal Medicine, and the founding editor-in-chief of the journal, Hemodialysis International. 

Dr. Blagg will be remembered as a brilliant, dedicated physician, passionate about advancing the care of people with kidney failure, and the nation’s most stalwart champion of home hemodialysis.